Khodorkovsky to appeal conviction to European rights court, lawyer told to leave Russia

[JURIST] Lawyers for jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky [JURIST news archive; defense website] said Friday that they will appeal his conviction [JURIST report] on tax and fraud evasion charges to the European Court of Human Rights [official website]. A Moscow court Thursday denied Khodorkovsky's appeal [JURIST report] and an appeal to the Russian Supreme Court is also planned, but a ruling from the Russian court is not required before the European Court could act. AP has more. Also Friday, Khodorkovsky's lawyer said his visa had been revoked and he is being forced to leave the country. Robert Amsterdam, a Canadian lawyer who sharply criticized the Kremlin during the case, said government agents came to his hotel room on Thursday night and gave him 24 hours to leave the country. Amsterdam argued that the government engineered the case to punish Khodorkovsky for his political ambitions. In a related development, a spokesman for Russia's General Prosecutor's Office said Friday that the department will seek to strip most of Khodorkovsky's defense team of their licenses to practice law [RIA Novosti report], saying that the lawyers used methods "which were close to criminal." Reuters has more.

About Paper Chase

Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible format.